I was visiting my mom the other day and her neighbor gave her some Romanian Lettuce and she made a soup from it. I couldn’t wait to try it.
My mom and were talking and she told me that her neighbor gave her some Romanian Lettuce and how to make an authentic soup with it. My mom made the soup and I couldn’t wait to try it. I went to visit the next day. The soup was amazing! It had a completely unique flavor that was just incredible.
The Romanian Lettuce is a beautiful plant; the leaves are purplish, magenta on top with slightly greenish blue underneath. The leaves are wide and slightly oval shaped, with magenta colored stems. The taste is something between beets and basil, really good!
My mom graciously saved some Romanian Lettuce for me an I was excited to cook with it. So for dinner I grabbed some chicken thighs that I had fixed the night before. I had a couple of peppers that I sliced up, grabbed some parsley and spinach and that was it.
I know most people here in the U.S. might not have access to Romanain lettuce, unless you have a gracious neighbor. So I was tryin to think a few decent substitutes. Fresh beet tops, you can always use the beets for something yummy later; another option would be swiss chard. I think both would work.
Looking at all the colors and smells I wanted to put it on a big fluffy pile of rice. See those little purple pieces of amazingness. ( I actually ended up making rice pilaf. )
I made a little well with the everything so most of the spinach could wilt quickly.
The Romanian Lettuce did give off a reddish tint to some of the things it to touched, like a beet would.
Ingredients
- 2 cooked chicken thighs (1 per person)
- 3-4 stalks of Romanian Lettuce (best tops or Swiss chard would be a good substitute)
- 2 bell peppers, sliced
- 1/2 bunch of flat leaf parsley
- 3 cups of spinach, ( 2 big handfuls )
- Salt, to taste
- 2 Tbspn oil
Directions
- Heat your skillet to medium, medium high and put a few tablespoons of oil and put the cut chicken in the skillet.
- After about 2 minutes add the sliced peppers and parsley, let that cook for another few minutes. Salt, to taste.
- When the peppers are just starting to get warm add the Romanian Lettuce.
- After the Romanian Lettuce was wilted I added the spinach. Let the spinach wilt, and immediately remove from heat.
- Serve by itself or over rice or noodles.
